Cutting tool



July 6, 1943.

P. E. STROUT CUTTING TOOL Filed June 18, 1941 Patented July 6, 1943 UNITED STATS PAT f OFFIE CUTTING TOOL [application June 18, 1341, Serial No. 398,557

8 Claims.

This invention relates to a cutting tool, and more particularly to wire cutting pliers.

In the manufacture of electrical apparatus, especiallycentral station apparatus for telephone systems, it is frequently necessary during the assembly of electrical units to provide connection from one terminal element to another by securing a length of wire thereto. After such connecting wire is in place, there is often a superfluous end of wire at one or the other terminal connection, which end must be'removed. This is ordinarily done by clipping the wire end to be removed with a pair of cutting pliers. The

clipped end may then fly out with some danger to the assembler or may fall into the apparatus being assembled and is then apt to lodge in some relatively inaccessible place from which it'mu'st be removed to prevent it becoming detrimental to the apparatus or to its operation. Furthermore, it frequently happens that such connections must be made in locations where the space: available both for manipulation of the parts and for a view of the field of operation is limited'to the minimum. Hence it is often diflicult, if not practically impossible, to introduce a hand or other additional means beside the clipping jaws of the pliers to catch and'remove clippings An object of the present invention is to provide pliers particularly adapted to the above de scribed purpose having means to'grasp and hold a clipping until the jaws of the'pliers re separated, the said means being so constructed and mounted as to effect a minimum of obstruction to a view of the cutting edges of the pliers while in operation.

With the above and other objects in View, the invention may be embodied in a pair of pliers having jaws of generally Wedge-shaped cross section tapering down toward abuttable cutting edges, in combination with one or more clipping gripping members of spring sheet metal all conforming closely to one and the same face of of the jaws of the pliersand having. one edge formed to lie alon and follow the cutting edge of the said jaw and to abut resiliently against the opposed'f cc of the other jaw to hold a clipping thereagainst'.

Other objects and features of th invention will appear from the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which the same reference numerals are applied to'iden- .tical parts in the several figures'and in which Fig. l is a plan view of a pair of pliers constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section on an enlarged scale on the line 22'0f Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the jaws closed ona clipped wire; and:

Fig. 4 is a detached view in perspective and from the concave side of one of the gripping members.

As herein disclosed, the invention is applied to a pair of side cutting pliers of well known structure and form, for which reason only so much thereof is shown as may be required for a clear understanding of the invention. The two cooperating elements 2% and 2! of the pliers are pivotally joined at 22 and are formed with handles 23' and Sit respectively and with jaws 25. and 28 respectively.

Each of the jaws 25 and 25 has a characteristic cross-section as shown in Fig. 2. The features of this section of interest here are the cutting edges 2? and 28, formedat the intersections closed, moving in one common plane when the I jaws open and close. They do not move in close- 1y adjacent planes and pass each other in cutting. The faces 29 and fiilslope back from the cutting edges at such an angle as will give a broad, strong, rigid back behind the edges and yet will affordas wide a clear view down between them as'possible to the cutting edges. The faces 3i and 32 are made as narrow as is consistent with the requirements of support for the cutting edge, in order to bring the cutting edges as near. the general bottom of the jaws (Fig. 2) as maybe to permit of clipping a wire as closely as possible, if to whatever it may protrude from. i

One result of these considerations and of general experience in the past is that the angle. between the facesZQ and 3!! is usually roughly speaking somewhere between 60" and 120, 1. e. these faces are nearer perpendicular to each other than parallel.

A spring member 48 made of spring sheet meta1, e. g. brass, steel, phosphor bronze or the like, or other suitable material is formed to lie against and ordinarily hug closely to the face 39 of the jaw 2%. At its upper edge (Fig.2) there is an integral portion or tab 4| bent over the topedge of the jaw to hug the rear face of the jaw. The member ii! is securedin place on the jaw by any suitable means such as a screw .2 passing into the jaw through an aperture 43 in the spring member. g r

In the preferred form shownin Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, a second spring member 54 is formed-and positioned to fit over the member ii) in the same manner that this fits over the plier jaw. -Where very fine wire is to be cut, the member' i l may. be omitted. number of superimposed spring gripping mem- If very heavy wire is in question thebers may be increased from two to three or even more. In the latter case the pliers themselves will presumably be larger and more rugged. In any event, remembering that the end of a piece of Wire cut with such pliers will be wedge-shaped, as indicated in Fig. 3, the total width across the gripping edges of the members 40 and 44 (whether there be one, two or more of these members) as indicated at 45, is preferably equal to or greater than the length of the wedge at the end of the clipping 46, in order that the members may grip the clipping 4B firmly against the face 29 of the opposite jaw and hold it thus gripped (Fig. 3) until the jaws are separated.

Because of their spring resilience, the members 4% and 44 lie normally about as shown in Fig. 2, and when distorted by being in use, deform about in the manner shown in Fig. 3. The gripping edges of the members tend then to hug the face 30 of the jaw to which they are attached even more strongly than they normally do, and so tend to hold the clipped end of the clipping 46 also strongly against the face 30, as well as against the face 29. Hence, even if the dihedral angle between the faces 29 and 3!] be considerably larger than a right dihedral angle, 120 or more, the clipping 46 will be gripped and held firmly until purposely released.

It is to be noted that a necessary and characteristic feature of the invention is that the gripping edge 45 of the members 40 (and 44) shall normally approach the face 29 of the opposite jaw to within the thickness of the wire or strand to be clipped. In order to avoid an otherwise necessary, clumsy and roundabout paraphrase, the phrase abutted approximately against as used in the appended claims to describe the relation between the edges 45 and the face 29 is to mean that it approaches to within a distance not greater than the thickness or diameter of a strand, wire or the like to be clipped. In the same way and for like reasons, the phrase a wide dihedral angle" as applied to the angle between the faces 29 and 30 is to mean a dihedral angle in the general range from 60 to 120.

The invention is disclosed as embodied in a pair of side cutting pliers. It is believed that the modification required to adapt it to the case of end cutting pliers is too obvious to need illustration and description. Modifications and adaptations may be made to meet the requirements of particular cases. The embodiments disclosed are illustrative and may be varied and departed from without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as pointed out in limited solely by the appended claims.

What is claimed is: j

1. A pair of cutting pliers having jaws formed with abuttable cutting edges and having a face on each jaw meeting a corresponding face on the other jaw to form a dihedral angle at the joined cutting edges when abutted, in combination with a clipping gripping member of spring sheet metal secured on the said face of one of the jaws and formed to have a gripping edge abutted approximately against the said face of the other jaw When the jaws are closed.

2. A pair of cutting pliers having jaws formed with abuttable cutting edges and having a face on each jaw meeting a corresponding face on the other jaw to form a dihedral angle at the joined cutting edges when abutted, in combination with a clipping gripping member of spring sheet metal secured on the said face of one of the jaws and formed to have a gripping edge normally lying along the cutting edge of the same jaw and abutted approximately against the said face of the other jaw when the jaws are closed.

3. A pair of cutting pliers having jaws formed with abuttable cutting edges and having a face on each jaw meeting a corresponding face on the other jaw to form a dihedral angle at the joined cutting edges when abutted, in combination with a clipping gripping member of spring sheet metal formed to lie normally closely against and secured on the said face of one of the jaws and formed to have a gripping edge abutted approximately against the said face of the other jaw when. the jaws are closed.

4. A pair of cutting pliers having jaws formed with abuttable cutting edges and having a face on each jaw meeting a corresponding face on the other jaw to form a dihedral angle at the joined cutting edges when abutted, in combination with a clipping gripping member of spring sheet metal formed to lie normally closely against and secured on the said face of one of the jaws and formed to have a gripping edge normally lying along the cutting edge of the same jaw and abutted approximately against the said face of the other jaw when the jaws are closed.

5. A pair of cutting pliers having jaws formed with abuttable cutting edges and having a face on each jaw meeting a corresponding face on the other jaw to form a dihedral angle at the joined cutting edges when abutted, in combination with a plurality of nested gripping members of spring sheet metal secured on the said face of one of the jaws and each having a gripping edge abutted approximately against the said face of the other jaw when the jaws are closed.

6. A pair of cutting pliers having jaws formed with abuttable cutting edges and having a face on each jaw meeting a corresponding face on the other jaw to form a dihedral angle at the joined cutting edges when abutted, in combination with a plurality of nested gripping members of spring sheet metal secured on the said face of one of the jaws and each having a gripping edge normally lying along the cutting edge of thelsame jaw and abutted approximately against the said face of the other jaw when the jaws are closed.

'7. A pair of cutting pliers having jaws formed with abuttable cutting edges and having a face on each jaw meeting a corresponding face on the other jaw to form a dihedral angle at the joined cutting edges when abutted, in combination with a plurality of nested gripping members of spring sheet metal formed to lie normally closely against and secured on the said face of one of the jaws and each having a gripping edge abutted approximately against the said face of the other jaw when the jaws are closed.

8. A pair of cutting pliers having jaws formed with abuttable cutting edges and having a face on each jaw meeting a corresponding face on the other jaw to form a dihedral angle at the joined cutting edges when abutted, in combination with a plurality of nested gripping members of spring sheet metal formed to lie normally closely against and secured on the said face of. one of the jaws and each having a gripping edge normally lying along the cutting edge of the same jaw and abutted approximately against the said face of the other jaw when'the jaws are closed.

PHILLIPS E. STROUT. 

